CHENNAI: An intelligible story with its roots in a rustic background; a film that questions the expansion of big brands; and an attempt to safeguard identity. This forms the crux of Darshan’s Yajamana, which looks at the struggles of holding on to values, beyond the high-powered and unavoidable globalisation.
In this directorial debut of popular music director V Harikrishna, the film reflects a deep and genuine sincerity, a sense of expergefaction, highlighting a characteristic that can be well identified in rural India.
Devi Shetty (Thakur Anoop Singh), a business magnate in Mumbai owns an oil company which has its presence across India, except in one village, Hulidurga. Reason? This place manufactures its own oil.
ALSO READ: Darshan Mania back with 'Yajamana'
On the other hand, Krishna (Darshan), who grows up in the village and is an oil extractor, owns a brand called Nandi. His life and that of the village is disrupted with Devi, who tries to woo the local oil extractors to associate with his brand. Will Devi succeed or will Krishna fight back and build his own brand, and become a saviour to his village forms the crux of Yajamana.
Harikrishna blends the insolence of power with the power behind the free-willed, and consciously sends across a strong message in a simple story. The glorification of the subject is brought through the dialogues written by Chethan Kumar. Special mention needs to be made about the sets created by Shashidhar Adapa and the rich production qualities.
The director also manages to put the Challenging star into heroic action, transforming the protagonist to a commoner and a conscious rebel. The flaw is that the story does not keep a good pace, slowing down the momentum on occasions. While cinematographer Shreesha Kuduvalli has followed the director, a better job by the editing department could have made a lot of difference.
For his super stardom status, Darshan delivers a class act. With Yajamana, he clearly displays that as an actor and as a film’s character, his strength is not just about the power that is exhibited on screen, but maintaining a thoughtful balance between reputation, diversity of roles, and delivering an act that lingers in the minds of the audience.
Rashmika Mandanna is allicient as the love interest and justifies the village girl’s character. Tanya Hope, in her debut, as a journalist, makes her presence felt. Dhananjay’s character is interesting and could have been given more screen space. Anoop Thakur Singh as villain mirrors the typical life of a corporate. Ravi Shankar’s role is cliched while Devaraj and Dattanna play vital roles. Sadhu Kokila, Shivaraj KR Pete, Mandya Ramesh, Sanju Bassaiah and Hitesh fill the screen with laughable sequences.
Harikrishna, who has also scored the music, has come up with the right tracks, especially the two songs –
Shivanandi and Nintha Nodo Yajamana. Ondu Munjane is a soothing romantic track while peppy song, Bassani Ba is mainly placed for the masses.
Yajamana does put in a serious thought on globalisation and monopoly, and comes out with both mass and class elements, holding good for all kinds of audience.